Indignation @ The Ross

Marcus (Logan Lessman) and Olivia (Sarah Gadon)

What is it about mom and dad? What is it about parents, period? They seem to know everything about the future in the present, don’t they?

We all have heard parental cautions, each one accentuated by a pointed finger or hands cupping your face: “Now you listen to your mother” or “You mark my words” or “I’m your father; I know what’s out there in that world, you don’t.” You would think that after having 18 or 20 years of life experience, parents at least could acknowledge your own awareness and understanding about life.

Rarely do parents assess themselves and conclude, “hey, I made it through all of the obstacles in life; I believe my child will too.” Ironic, isn’t it?

Max Messner (Danny Burstein)

But for Max Messner, the Jewish father (Danny Burstein) in James Schamus’s film Indignation, one little mistake–one false move–can destroy a person’s life. These are the words of caution he delivers to his son Marcus (Logan Lerman) as he prepares for college during the time of the Korean War. Mr. Messner’s fear is fueled after attending funerals of his son’s friends and relatives who returned to the states in body bags after having fought in the war, and Mr. Messner knows the privilege of his son’s exemption from the draft as result of his acceptance into a conservative Midwestern college in Ohio; the future shines before him, and it is dazzling.

But one false move warns Mr. Messner …

As Marcus adjusts to Midwestern culture, he is exposed to the usual suspects of college life. In particular, members of the Jewish fraternity approach Marcus about membership; he does not wish to join much to the consternation of his parents.

Mrs. Messner (Linda Emond) warns her son

Framed within the socio-cultural norms of the 1950s, Schamus brilliantly portrays the intense demands for compliance, if not, obedience to institutional rules and regulations and societal codes of conduct by the college student. In the process, Indignation dramatizes the heavy weight of self-determination that can implode as it enacts within such strictures; even romance and love are stifled within these constraints. Sarah Gadon plays Olivia Hutton, Marcus’s troubled love interest, and her liberal attitudes towards sex lands on no ground except that of the campus strumpet. Marcus does not care; but mother Messner, played by Linda Emond, does. She swoops down on Marcus as would an eagle to its prey to warn her son against marrying Olivia.

In the end, the movie boomerang’s the father’s major concern as Marcus’s fate pivots on one false innocent move, and this will leave you heartbroken. Sometimes, my father counseled me, you have to follow the rules even if you do not want to or suffer the consequences … if you get caught …